Saints Perpetua and Felicity
By Brother Robert Lentz, OFM. © 1996
Courtesy of www.trinitystores.com
Felicity and Perpetua lived in Carthage in North Africa in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries and were martyred, along with several of their companions, for refusing to deny their Christian faith.
El Padre at Padre Mickey's Dance Party has a lovely post about the two saintly women, which includes the icon pictured above, along with another beautiful icon.
The faithful witness of the martyrs, of people like Perpetua and the others, have made it possible for us to hear the Good News, have made it possible for us to learn of salvation, have made it possible for us to have eternal life. May we all share the bravery and faithfulness of Perpetua, Felicitas, Revocatus, Secundulus, Saturninus, Saturas, and all the martyrs.
Kittkatt at Jesus in Love, using the same wonderful icon, posted another beautiful account of the the lives of the saints.
Perpetua was a 22-year-old noblewoman and a nursing mother. Felicity, her slave, gave birth to a daughter while they were in prison. Although she was married, Perpetua does not mention having a husband in the narrative.
There were arrested for their Christian faith, imprisoned together, and held onto each other in the amphitheater at Carthage shortly before their execution on March 7, 203.
I recommend the two commemorations highly.
PRAYER
O God the King of saints, you strengthened your servants Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions to make a good confession, staunchly resisting, for the cause of Christ, the claims of human affection, and encouraging one another in their time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
beautiful icon. I love icons.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Wikipedia, they were martyred in the company of some Christian men, and in the amphitheatre the Romans unleashed a boar, a bear and a leopard on the men, but a "wild cow" on the two women. Awwwww!! That sounds rather sweet. I like cows. But then they were put to the sword.
Cathy, if you read Padre Mickey's post, he tells a bit of a different story.
ReplyDeleteyes, his version has a wild steer, which sounds a lot scarier. It's not too dissimilar tho - I've just realised the Wikipedia version says only Perpetua was put to the sword, which is also what he says.
ReplyDeletethat is also a gorgeous icon on his site, as you say.
I first read about Perpetua and Felicitas in Charles Williams, who highlighted something Felicitas said when she was giving birth in prison. A guard jeered at her that if she could hardly stand the pain of giving birth, she would be completely undone by the pains she would suffer in the arena. To which she answered, "What I suffer now, I suffer for myself. But what I will suffer then, I will suffer for Another, and He will suffer for me."
ReplyDeleteAnd a slight dissent on the subject of that icon: the natives of what is now Tunisia and Libya (and the rest of Africa north of the Sahara)are not black; they're the standard Mediterranean type, and Carthage itself was after all founded by Phoenicians (ie, Lebanese). So Perpetua, at least, as a local noblewoman, would have been unlikely to have been black as she is shown in the icon. Progressive vision should not be an excuse for historical inaccuracy: leave that to the Tea Party movement.
Kishnevi, I heard or read the childbirth story somewhere or other, too.
ReplyDeleteAs to the skin shade in the icon, tell it to Br. Lentz. :-)